Active Chi

[ℛeesa ℒuna]

System Updating

The female voice that echoed around the chamber above the whirls of the other machines sounded like the perfect feminine ideal. Soft and sweet and not too overpowering, yet still able to assert itself over the other noises that were making themselves known. It was calm and it was sensible, as if anything this voice said was the absolute truth and not to be argued with. It was why they called the owner of this feminine voice “Mother” all of the time. It was easier than the true name. And it added an affectionate feel to this otherwise impersonal, cybertronic place. Everyone loved Mother, everyone but the girl Mother was currently talking to. For reasons unknown to all but her, this girl couldn’t stand Mother. At all.

”System better hurry up,” grumbled the girl in reply. She hated sitting in this chair and doing this. She would rather be out there, on the run, on the move. On the Hunt. But she couldn’t do that without doing this as well, the two pieces worked hand in hand. All the same, she really wanted to be done.

Patience, Chi. System Updating Mother rebuked gently, with slight affection in her voice. Almost like a mother affectionately telling their silly child to sit still.

If the young woman could have, she would have rolled her eyes. As it was, she couldn’t move that part of her face currently. Mother personally preferred when it was her mouth she couldn’t move, however, she never said this aloud. The girl winced a bit at the latest part, but kept her mouth shut, attempting to show the patience she had been asked of. It was hard for her and she wished to complain. But she didn’t allow herself to. Mother had poked a sensitive wire, making the young woman instinctively wish to flex her hand, but that was not a possibility at the moment. Considering, the small fact that her arm was nothing more than a mass of wires at the moment as it was being rewired. She was supposed to be able to do things she herself wasn’t capable of. And as such, her arm needed to be rewired.

Considering she had never played a guitar in her life, and it was required for her to be able to this time.

However, she didn’t flinch once when the thousands of volts of electricity surged through the back of her neck via a wire that was connected there almost like a USB plugs into a computer. That was a normal sensation, and one that filled her more with adrenaline than pain.

Well, now anyways.

”No! No! What the fuck—What are you doing! No! Let me go! Put me down!” the girl had screeched, unaware of what was going on, unaware of what they were going to do. Until she was rendered immobile by the needles that were on the seat of the chair they put her down on.

Now, now, dear, patience. said a far too motherly voice and she couldn’t move. That was all that mattered. She couldn’t move. She wanted to whimper and scream and cry, but her voicebox must be sore and worn out. She couldn’t…she couldn’t scream.

And then the volt of electricity hit the back of her neck and she screamed then

”I did not wish to relive that memory, Mother” the girl chided with a small frown of, currently, full lips. Mother did not reply but the young woman did not think she would have done so, so she let it go and got back to attempting to be patient.

And sorting through what she had received directly into her brain. It was memories. A whole lifetime of memories. The young woman knew that if the general public knew it was possible to harvest and transfer memories there would be panic, but so far the secret was well guarded and no one outside knew of its existence. As it was, this complex and full set of memories was being memorized and compiled by the young woman. She would have to take the next day to officially have it down as if it were her own set, however, she was missing most of her own set so it wouldn’t be that hard to slide those in.

It was necessary for her to lose her own set, they had told her. It wasn’t important enough, and her job was much more necessary than silly things like the face of her mother or father. Like knowing the first time she rode a bike or the name of her best friend. She didn’t even know how they had found her for this. She did know she had been born without wires. She did know they had hollowed her out when they had found her, dead on the streets, at seventeen. She was stuck at that age now, almost like a vampire, eternally this size and make unless they changed that too. Seeing as they had given her a second life, they found it within their rights to take away hers.

She didn’t care, she loved her job. She had been made for it after all.

One last shock as they slid the skin back over the wires on her arm. She rolled the wrist, flexed the fingers and they felt much more…dexterous, much more limber and longer than they had been before. However, the shape of her actual hand hadn’t been changed, just felt as if it had been. That was normal, she simply took the moment to get a good feel for it and be able to command it like it was her own. Momentary until the command would be as simple as if it was her own hand.

Receiving said an entirely automated voice in her ear and with her new hand she reached up to tap the Helix of her ear, where it simply appeared as if her cartelidge had been pierced by a big, heavy black cuff. She felt, more than heard, the button on the cuff click and momentarily she heard speaking in her ear.

”Active Chi, Assignment F45O, Designation Detective Work.”

[/i] the voice started. All the usual crap about the numbers and what it was. She knew that already and impatiently waited for the details. ”Total assimilation into life of victim required. Assignment requested by parents of victim. Murder investigation. Rumored to be by the same serial killer that brought Active Chi to this corporation. Victim died two years prior and M.O. fits same death Active Chi suffered. Do you accept the possible trauma of this case?” the voice asked her. The young woman, who refused to think of herself as Chi—active or otherwise—scowled at it. If she couldn’t remember anything that had happened to her, why would it bother her to investigate another victim? She had known a serial killer had offed her, that was the little bit of information all actives were allowed. They were allowed to know what “brought” them to the corporation.

If anything, it just motivated her to get the job done right. She tapped the cuff twice.

”Acknowledged. Victim died two years prior. Died at the age of seventeen. Would be nineteen now. An assumed runaway before, hence the late start on pursuing. Victim’s body found originally in a town square, prominently displayed, many states over. Signs of sexual rape discovered. Victim was missing for approximately twenty-two days before body was found. Discovered recently that a Jane Doe body was hers. Parents told of death, no one else has yet been informed. Active Chi is to assimilate into her life and take it up as if it was hers. Investigate friends and loved ones, as well as enemies. Active Chi is to figure out who or what killed this girl.

Not once did the Informer tell the young woman the name of this victim, instead providing simple the word victim as her name. This was because it was partly a test. The name was imbedded the deepest in the memories, once she could provide the name, she would be allowed into the field. ”I accept this task and will complete it fully”

”Acknowledged.” the informer repeated, and then the world inside the young woman was quiet. Her mind was her own, her own and the memory’s. She went back to attempting to download them all into her own brain as Mother finished her work.

She found herself surprised at the sheer speed in which she managed to download most of them. Usually it took far more time to download the memories than it was currently. She decided to adjust her time of departure. She could leave in an hour if she played it right.

System Updated

Mother’s voice rang through the small, electronic room and the young woman simply nodded. She then stood, carefully extracting herself from the many wires and needles that had been connected only moments before. Some to check up and be sure everything was operating at maximum efficiency, others to update and reprogram certain features about herself. ”About fucking time” the young woman scoffed, trying on her new vocal box for size, as well as the new attidute, and she found she approved. This assignment would be easy. She looked straight ahead. ”Visual” she requested, and a virtual mirror appeared before her eyes.

Silver electronic looking hair that belonged to the young woman had been replaced with a soft chestnut brown that felt off to the memories. She would enquire about this in a few moments after she took in the other facts so she would know her own appearance. He, her ar skpin was pale, her lips full, her face heartshaped, her appearance tinkered with slightly to make her appear two years older. But her eyes…ah that would come first in the line of questioning. ”Mother, you missed my eyes.”

Incorrect. Victim’s eyes are similar. It only took a minor adjustment to shift down the glow of your eyes to match the Victims

Huh. The young woman thought on this for a second. She liked not having to lose her favorite feature, even if they looked more like ice then the electronic glow of her own. It was a slight difference that she could deal with. ”The color feels wrong. Of the hair.” she inquired again.

Victim usually dyed her hair. It has been suggested she wouldn’t be able to. Depending on your choice of cover story for the missing two years, I may correct this slight, Chi. Mother sounded in the room. The young woman nodded, indicating that the cover story would fit better if she dyed it later on in her assimilation.

Kidnapping, rather than death. It would cause some eyebrow raising for the person who had committed the crime, and make it easier to spot him or her. A wrong story always drew out the person who committed the deed, especially if they were proud of it. And someone who would leave the body displayed out in the middle of a town was proud if it. It seemed the perfect story to go with, so it was the one she chose. She nodded and the mirror disappeared.

The memories were downloaded, far too quick but she wouldn’t question, she was ready to go.

She almost forgot. Turning she bowed to the computer that was Mother. The first reason for the nickname was the fact that she was the mother computer for the whole corperation. With her own intelligence. There was a rumor that she was the dead wife of the Big Boss, but no one said it outloud.

A buzzing on her cuff again before she could leave, she sighed but then she recognized the signal that was incoming and tapped her cuff to receive the message with a slight smile. ”Chi! Bitch you still up for tonight? Sin and Resh have this bet that you’re gonna bail…Prove me right and say you’re busy?”

The young woman laughed out loud, the sound traveling to the ear of the silver haired, silver eyed devil boy who was currently linking with her. ”How much do you win?”[/i] she linked back to him.

”Oh fuck yes!” She could practically see the bizarre little happy dance that he was doing wherever he was. Xi, who she wa s currently talking to, was a weird boy, often called the devil because when he got mad he was scary. He never got made at her, the pair had clicked as soon as she had stopped malfunctioning from her initial download and managed to upload her own personality. He told her that she had done that almost as quick as he had…and there the bizarre rivalry between them had started. If Actives were capable of falling in love, it might have happened. But as it was, the two were more like brother and sister. They were constantly going back in forth between being first and second on the top of the charts. Along with Resh and Sin, the quartet often went out and tore it up when the Corp would allow it. They had to pull on different personas of course. But she was often bailing for a job. Almost as if to distance herself from them.

She laughed again. ”I have to check in tomorrow. Bump up with you tomorrow? Save a Circuit for me”[/i] she responded with a shake of her head.

”Sounds like a plan. Trying to knock me off first place, Grasshoppah?”

She rolled her currently icy eyes. ”Knock you off and keep you off Xi. I’ll see you then, I have to get to work. Stay Sparked”

”You two, don’t get yourself killed…again” he said before closing up their link. Xi had a weird sense of humor and it seemed to trend towards the fact that all of them had been dead before the scientists had brought them back to life to work for them. She preferred not to think about it.

The active young woman made her way to the door. Without the card for permission to leave the compound, this door wouldn’t usually open. However, there was another way to do it. You needed to know your name. The name of the person who’s life you were taking over. So, she laid her hand down on the scanner and waited for the computer to recognize her. ”Name?” It prompted.

”Crissatha Pandora” she replied. She heard the click, the door opened…and she was good to go.[/center][/blockquote]


OMG I NEED TO STOP MAKING NEW FANFICS AND FINISH OLD ONES. And I need to stop killing Cris in them. That is all

[ℛeesa ℒuna]

It was mainly the two hour car ride she hadn’t approved of. Nor was it the need to dress from her usual outfit into a new one in the car ride. Changing in a moving vehicle was never something that had ever been appealing to her, but she hadn’t felt like wasting time in changing back in her room. Newly attired in jeans with more rips than she could count while still seeming decent and a loose black teeshirt, she felt the memories click with that. This was right for the memories.

Unlike some actives, she never challenged the memories, never tried to make her own changes to anything they told her. And this was what put her up top. Xi had taught her that when she had first been starting out. Never fight the memories. Some people felt like it was too scary to lose themselves in another person. She reveled in it, and didn’t allow for any separation. This was what allowed her to get her jobs done quickly and efficiently. And efficiency was why she was top dog. Well, her and Xi but that was simply unimportant.

It gave her time to further assimilate the memories into herself at least. Usually she would take much longer to go out on the mission, but had she stayed back at Corp she would be dragged out by the other three and she wasn’t in the mood for that. Not tonight. The memories confirmed that it had been exactly two years today that she had gone missing, and it was intended she be here around this time for the bigger impact. She, however, steered away from the memories of those twenty-two days that the girl had been captive, raped, tortured, and killed. She was trying to live her life, not her death. It was hard to take murder cases because when they got the full memories, they indeed got it all.

Murder cases were sadly the most common. Most people just wanted justice for their children. And then she would provide an excuse, once the case was solved, so slip out of their lives just as easily.

However, the young woman was left wondering why the Victim’s parents would want this justice. It seemed they wanted nothing more than the victim to be out of their lives, now that she was, why didn’t they leave it be? She supposed it was something silly about family honor. Or the publicity. Either way, it didn’t appear to be affection. The only affection the young woman felt in these memories came from this victim’s friends.

So she turned her attention to that side of the memories.

There were a group of them. One was a love, deep love, but she’d get back to that. She wanted to study the way they interacted so she’d know how to act around them herself. Partly the memories knew so she would hand it over to them and be done with it. But she needed to study them as well because she was also introducing different circumstances into the equation. There were the two close friends who were more like siblings. The sweet one who was more like a little sister. The others were very close with her as well. She frowned a little, just a tiny twitch, as she examined them. Close friendships, despite what one may think, were easier. It meant there was many more memories of them. Much more to play off of.

However, she barely glanced over the Victim’s former love. She intended to play on the fact that the victim had been raped before she had been murdered. This would require a deeper delving, and she was surprised to learn the victim had, in fact, been raped before. It wasn’t the type of rape most people think of, but an older man taking advantage of a young drunk girl was indeed considered rape by most people even if she appeared willing. This would have to go deeper though, given that she had extended the period of detainment to two years.

It was unlikely the Victim would want any type of touching or contact after that trauma, perhaps comfort later, but nothing deeper. So she didn’t delve too far into that because the upcoming experience would be different.

Even thinking of the Victim’s ordeal was enough to drag up distant screams, which were her death memories. She pushed them down. The young woman was not going to deal with those if she thought she could avoid it. She would delve into the twenty two days prior to her death if she found she needed more details, however, she preferred not to.

Trauma was always the perfect excuse for that.

The two hours, however, seemed to pass quicker when she was formulating her plan of attack. Chi highly doubted any of the friends this Victim had kept so close and dear would be the one to have kept her and killed her, but other possibles certainly stood out in this memory. She hadn’t worried about stepping on people’s feelings, this victim. It gained the respect of the girl that now held her life, and her justice in her hands.

That was why, even though she disliked the death memories, she took the murder cases. No one had ever caught her killer and it made her feel like she was disgraced. She wanted to correct the disgraces of others. Especially seeing as if she gave this Victim justice, she also granted it to herself. They had the same killer. So in catching this victim’s killer, it would be a double justice and cleansing of the soul. Not that she thought she had one anymore, considering the fact that she was basically a machine.

As long as she didn’t glitch, this assignment should go just as smoothly as all the others. That was what she was thinking when she stepped out of the car and saw the impressive mansion that the Victim had once lived in. They hadn’t changed a thing, all the memories confirmed that, even if she hadn’t been living here during her last few years of life. The victim, she really had to start thinking of Crissatha Pandora by her name so as not to separate herself from the memories, had gone to a boarding school for the last 3 years, it was where she had met her friends. She rarely came home if she could manage it. Her home life wasn’t a happy one.

All the same, she could see tears in the eyes of Marianna Phasee—the victim had changed her name when she moved away. She stood there impassively and let the other woman take in what appeared to be her daughter reincarnated. ”Excuse me you just…just look just like her. Though, that was what I was told would happen. I suppose I wasn’t expecting it all the same” the woman said, pulling herself together only moments after seeing her apparently dead daughter back to life.

She admired Mrs. Phasee’s control, but could feel the resentment that overflowed from the memories at that control. That need to be perfect had not helped Ms. Pandora in the slightest, in fact it had harmed her a great deal. ”Don’t be ashamed. I’ve seen more..ah…emotional reactions before.”

Mrs. Pandora shook her head and then led the young woman into her impressive home. Impressive was her words, not the lingering ideals of Ms. Pandora through her memories. To her, this place was a prison. Not impressive at all.

She was informed that all the people that Crissatha had loved in her lifetime would be on her way shortly. She nodded…and made her way to the bedroom that had belonged to the young woman.

[/blockquote]

[ℛeesa ℒuna]

Nothing had changed in this room, or at least, that was what the memories of the young woman that were in her head informed her. The young hadn’t been here to live in a long time, however. She had been visiting before the accident had happened, before she had been cornered coming home. The young woman frowned and pulled away from those memories. She would stay far away from those if she could help it. They weren’t all that necessary for this mission. The only change was that her guitar had been moved here, along with other little things that had been hers. They had been transferred from the boarding school she had been staying in, to make room for another student. She had had the privilege of a single room, and after she had been assumed dead, they had moved her things out and brought them here.

The young woman knew all of this because she had been informed, Crissatha’s memories—of course—knew none of this. She made my way over to the black and red guitar and strummed her fingers across the strings, and stirring her memories of sitting in a courtyard and playing, and playing often with a boy with long black hair. Beyond all else, the young woman knew this to be Crissatha’s closest friend, no matter how close that she got to others. The young woman closed her eyes and let the memories take over her. They would be here soon, she needed to be Crissatha.

She looked around the room, scanning it all and taking a deep breath, assuming the identity of things in the room as hers. because that was what they had to be. She was the type that always let the memories take over until there was nothing of her left. That scared many other actives, so they refused to work that way, but it was how she stayed on top. She was good at what She did. In her head, she was going over all of the people in the memories, even as she was touching things. Her hands paused, however, when they brushed over a denim jacket. It was sitting on the back of a desk where Crissatha had left it before taking off that night. It had been hot, she figured she’d just come back for it the next day. It still sat here. It smelled clean though, her mother or one of her sisters had obviously cleaned it often before setting it right back here in hopes that the girl would return. Without hesitation she picked it up and put it on. It felt right. And so did the fingerless gloves on the desk after the young active tugged those on as well.

That felt better. She looked into the mirror, and studied the face of this young woman staring back at me. In all honesty, she didn’t look too different than the active did when she was at rest, just tweaks and colors and such here or there. It made it easier for the young woman to slip into her skin. The memories would feel more at ease after she dyed her hair, but she didn’t have time for that right now, so the chestnut would have to stay for now.

”Aria, your friends are here,” Mrs. Phasee’s voice called up the stairs. And she also heard another voice grumble, saying that her name was Cris. And the young woman agreed with this. Her name was Cris, the memories refused to acknowledge the name Aria, after she had changed her name. However, Mrs. Phasee had refused to stop calling the young woman by the name she had been born with.

The young woman didn’t reply to the older woman, instead she took a deep breath. Here it goes, time to get this show on the road. Because in so many ways, that was what this was. She may look exactly like the woman that these people were all hoping to see, and she had all the memories from that young woman’s head in her own brain, but she was not that woman. And at the end of this, she would slip away from their lives again. It was almost cruel, but necessary. This way, at least, the killer could be caught and the justice could be served. That was why she liked her job, as cruel as it may seem.

Time go downstairs.

The first person she saw was the boy with the long black hair, he was standing closest to the stairs. And she was so deep into the memories, that honestly, she didn’t even need to think too hard about how she had to react, her body did that for her. So when her eyes teared up, and her steps faltered, she knew it was because the young woman’s memories were reacting this way to that boy. Marluxia. She paused a moment, at the bottom of the stairs, and said nothing for a second, just looked up at him, all teary eyed. ”Hey Luxy” she said softly. And then he wrapped his arms around her so tightly she didn’t think she could breathe for a moment. And then she hugged him back.

He spoke softly. ”Oh, I could kill you. I missed you, brat” he said, holding her close. She buried her face against his chest, breathed in the familiar scent of the boy who was supposed to be her closest friend.

”I missed you too.”

She pulled away from Marluxia in time to be glomped again by a different girl. She hadn’t been extremely close to this girl, but they were practically like sisters, all of her group was. So when the red head hugged her, something she was pretty sure Red had never done before, and spoke, she was shocked and it took a moment. ”You’re alive!” the girl exclaimed. And then she seemed to get ahold of herself, and pull away, so her hands were just on the young woman’s shoulders. And she seemed perfectly calm. Until she looked at the other woman’s shoulders and seemed to have another spaz out. ”Why didn’t you tell us?!” she asked. Well, more like demanded.

The young woman who was being Cris shook her head and pulled back from all the touching. If she was going to play this part of someone who had been held captive and abused for two years, she had to do it right. She wrapped her arms around herself. ”Wasn’t possible” she said, looking down and away from any of them. She wouldn’t let them touch her for a bit now, playing the part of the scared little girl. She looked up to see frowns all around.

”You don’t have to talk about it” said another girl, coming forward. The sweet one. Raea. There were tears in her eyes too, and she could tell that the other girl was having a huge mental freak out, but had to play the role of the girl who kept everyone from having total spaz outs. Cris, or the girl who was pretending to be her, nodded slowly, nodding her thanks. She wanted to reach out and hug the girl who, at this point, just seemed to be happy tha teveryone was alive.

She watched as another girl, Lightning, came forward. And she smiled slightly. Hey Grasshopper” she said, with the small smile in place. She had been close to this girl as well, and unlike the others, she seemed to be playing it off like she was totally calm. But that seemed typical for Li, as far as she could tell from the memories.

Lightning, for her part, came all the way over to Cris and held out a chocolate bar, as if it was a going away present or something, and everything was totally normal right then, even though her eyes showed she was having the same freak out everyone else was. It was to be expected she thought though, she had been missing for two years. ”Long time no see Panda, glad they weren’t lying”

Cris rolled her eyes at the nickname Li knew she hated and took the chocolate, grateful for Li’s apparent normal face.

Her mother, or the woman who was supposed to be her mother if she really was Cris, suggested that they all move into another room that wasn’t the foyer so that way they could actually talk. And she nodded, yes that sounded like a good idea, sitting down and chatting she could get a better handle on how to act. Here, standing, it was getting all emotional. She waited and let everyone go ahead of her, beucase she wanted to linger a few moments, see if she saw someone.

And then, once everyone had gone through the doorway but her, there he was, just coming in, like he was afraid it was all a cruel joke or something.

Justin.

[/blockquote]